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Monday, January 25, 2016

Yung Araw na Tinamaan Ako

***WARNING***
This could get a little dirty.

The previous week was really busy. The hospital was so packed with patients that we had to call to reserve rooms at the admitting section before admitting patients to the emergency room (bummer...). But by the end of the week, the toxicity died down. My patient's parents were all happy to be sent home.

I was ,nevertheless, looking forward to a peaceful, no phone call weekend evening (yey) and , maybe, the following day, I can take the two kids for a few kilometers of swim to wear them out.(Mwahahaha...).

(Swerte mo Ate, nasa Maynila ka.)

We had ensiladang paco, langgonisang Cabanatuan and fried fish for dinner. I'm pretty sure my daughter staying at the school dorm will drool over these.(Akkaw, ang sarap Ate)

By midnight, I was awaken by a gnawing pain in my tummy.Yayks, my gastritis struck again. I haven't enjoyed a good cup of freshly brewed coffee for weeks...tapos, ngayon... a tummy ache just woke me up. (hay,naku...)

I made my way to the kitchen, turned on the lights, and went straight to the refrigerator. I knew there was a bottle of maalox somewhere ,pero... kaya lang, there was none. I opened the cupboard and skimmed through the medicines available. We had so many kinds of medicines ,and some, I don't even know what it was for (and I'm a doctor?! )... Ang malupet , there was not one that I required. There was nothing. No maalox, no omeprazole, no ranitidine, no esomeprazole. Not even paracetamol. I was crestfallen.

I went back to the refrigerator and found diphenhydramine, an anti allergy drug that causes sleepiness. I'd drug my self to sleep and take the real medicine in the morning. (It sounded like a good plan considering it was already midnight.) I drank 10ml and went to bed.

I started to have diarrhea. I had short burst voluminous, watery, mucoid greenish poop. The kind that bounce back to the cheeks of your pwet-pwet after hitting the toilet bowl.

Then, an intense on and off tummy pain followed. It felt like a grappler's hand squeezed my guts to choking point.

I had cold sweats running down my cheeks. My heartbeat was racing like I was doing a 30 minute high intensity interval training every 5 minutes , or better yet, I think I was having supraventricular tachycardia. Nayks.

And at the moment of release , I needed to ran to the toilet bowl to vomit. Hell. I had headache for retching so hard. I was literally trying to spill my guts out. Pambihira. I thought that if my small intestines were not attached well inside my body, my bowels would really come out my mouth. Eewww.

I tossed and turned. My husband woke up. He asked what was wrong. And I said I had tummy ache. He asked me if I wanted to go to the emergency room and get pain relievers. We had a normal, unhurried and non urgent conversation. But deep inside ... I genuinely felt... Tang Ina This pain!

I looked at the clock and saw half past 2. I told him that I would try to withstand the pain and wait for the morning. There was not an ounce of bravery in waiting for the sun to shine, but it was, honest to goodness, walang halong biro... embarrassing to go to the emergency room asking for a pain reliever for a tummy ache at this time of the day.

Turns out... I couldn't wait for another hour. We were off to the emergency room at 3am. Masakit talaga eh.

My husband, like the usual trained doctor, calmly asked me to describe the pain I was feeling. He asked where exactly it hurts , how much it hurts and to describe it. He even gave me leading questions so I can answer him. Was it colicky, does it radiate any where were what he primarily asked. At least, that's what I remembered...yayks.

All I can say over and over was..."Masakit na masakit" I cupped my tummy and doubled up. I was shaped like a big ball on top of the bed...ready to roll out .

I don't think I have a shortage of vocabulary on how to describe my pain. But, at that moment, I couldn't translate to English what was running through my head, let alone let it escape my mouth. There was a vague feeling of satisfaction when describing the pain in the mother tongue.

He said he was sorry. He then tried placing it on my other hand... Aaaarrrgh. (Success )

I heard him say to give me half ampoule of nalbuphine. I wondered if that drug was part of the standard treatment. But who cared, I wanted to be put out of my misery . Hell yeah... please drug me.

Our transaide was about to carry me to the stretcher (like how the groom carries the bride kind of carry ) but I declined. I said I'll ride the wheelchair ( hahaha...stubborn ass) ,and I said that with my eyes closed. And when I opened my eyes ,I was so tipsy. (Like I had 4 consecutive shots of tequila) I almost fell over...hahaha....(Hey, I was given a narcotic...)

I spent my entire Sunday on the hospital bed.

Ito na yung araw na tinamaan ako ng food poisoning. I had ingested an unrefrigerated food that was prepared seven hours before I ate them. It was a bad case of miscalculations.

Damn, precious moments wasted.

I improved the following day, but not completely well. I better be free of this loads of crap this weekend ; I will be Ninang sa Kasal at Pangasinan....